Quoting unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal reported Phillip Kwon was called to testify. Christie appointed Kwon as deputy general counsel of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the GWB.

Before that, Christie nominated Kwon for the New Jersey Supreme Court, which failed when it was blocked by Senate Democrats. Kwon also was a federal prosecutor under U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, who brought Kwon to Trenton when Christie was elected governor. Kwon was named an assistant state attorney general.

Probably of interest to the grand jury is what Kwon knows about testimony before a legislative committee at which former Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee, testified the lanes were closed for a traffic study. Baroni was condescending and theatrical. Moreover, it turned out there was no traffic study.

The Wall Street Journal reported Kwon sat in on Baroni’s preparations for the presentation. He attended Baroni’s unconvincing act in Trenton. An internal investigation showed Kwon discussed the testimony with Charles McKenna, who then was chief legal counsel to Christie. Kwon has retained attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, who was associate counsel to the independent prosecutor investigating Iran-Contra in the ’80s. Later, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in New York.

Kwon is typical of Christie’s nominations — a former subordinate or friend, or both. The governor appointed, for instance, David Samson as chairman of the Port Authority. A Christie friend, lobbyist and lawyer, Samson was active in Republican circles. He resigned after the bridge scandal.

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That bridge incident hurt Christie in a way nothing else has and seems to be forcing a change in direction. To replace Samson, Christie chose John Degnan, who was attorney general under Brendan Byrne from 1978 to 1981. Besides being a Democrat, Degnan has not been as politically active as Samson or as close to the governor.

That is not to say he is a stranger in Trenton. A former Chubb Group of Insurance Companies executive who still serves as a consultant to the firm, Degnan has been appointed to this panel or that task force several times to solve problems under Democrat and Republican administrations.

Christie’s political star has faded since the GWB scandal that sucked in some of his appointees and allies. He needs to find a way to restore the luster. He must show he can choose people based on their qualifications rather than their relationship to him. Otherwise, he is no different than other Jersey pols who surrounded themselves with friends, former colleagues and political hacks and hangers-on.

Degnan gives him an opportunity to do that. He’s a former executive with a reputation for integrity who has been called on to straighten out governmental bureaucratic messes. On the surface, he looks like what New Jersey needs at the Port Authority.

He also fits into a another message the governor has emphasized since the GWB debacle: “We are always judged not by the fall, but how we get up.”

Changing perceptions is hard, including those of mentors. When pressed on TV as to whether he would vote for Christie as his party’s 2016 presidential nominee, Republican Kean, one of New Jersey’s most respected public figures, said it would depend on who the candidates are.